Fighting Socialism in our Backyard and at Home

• The dictators who turned Cuba and Venezuela into socialist nightmares are national security threats to the United States. We must fight against these repressive regimes, not appease them with sanctions relief. 
• These failed states show the world what happens when you let socialists takeover: they turned prosperous nations into poverty-stricken narco-states. We must never let that happen to America. 
• Cuba and Venezuela have cozied up to Russia and China, giving our worst enemies an outpost in our neighborhood where they can foment discord, spread lies, and fund conflicts in the Western Hemisphere against the U.S. and our allies.
• Instead of standing up to the criminal kingpin Nicholas Maduro, who turned Venezuela into a nationwide slum, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have betrayed Venezuela’s opposition and are preparing to lift sanctions on his murderous regime. The Biden administration must abandon the advice of radicals in the Democrat party and treat Cuba and Venezuela as the pariahs they are. America must stand for freedom – not with its greatest enemies.  

It’s clear: outside of a fully open, human trafficked, and drug-filled southern border, the two greatest threats in our own backyard are CUBA and VENEZUELA. 

• The Maduro regime is a narco-mafia syndicate acting as a government. Key regime figures are known drug traffickers and are under U.S. indictment. The Cuban regime is a communist dictatorship responsible for countless human rights atrocities, including extrajudicial killings of protesters, arbitrary imprisonments, and a complete obliteration of the economy. 
• Cuba has sent intelligence and military agents to the United States and throughout the Western Hemisphere to try to undermine U.S. relationships with countries in the region, keep authoritarian regimes such as Venezuela in power, and, in some cases, has attempt to overthrow legitimately elected governments.

Venezuela and Cuba are a significant contributor to regional instability.  

• Over 5.9 million Venezuelans have fled Maduro’s Venezuela in the last few years. The Organization of American States (OAS) has warned an additional 1.5 million Venezuelans could flee the country in the next six months as conditions deteriorate.  
• Cuba has the potential of creating yet another mass immigration crisis which threatens both Cuban lives and American resources. In 2021, the U.S. Coast Guard reported over a ten-fold increase in the number of Cubans intercepted en-route to the United States.     

Cuba and Venezuela are partners for Russia and China.

• Through the corrupt dictatorships in Venezuela and Cuba, China and Russia have waged hybrid-warfare against the U.S. and our allies. Biden’s weakness has allowed both Western Hemisphere nations to become entrenched pawns of Putin and the Chinese Communist Party.  
• Both regimes attempt to import oil and weapons from Iran, which is actively calls for the destruction of America and plots to assassinate U.S. officials on our own soil.  
• Maduro purchases discounted CCP fighter jets, hires Russian mercenaries for his personal protection, and welcomes heavily armed Russian ships in ports within shooting distance of the U.S. 
• Cuba, amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, met with Russian officials to explore an enhanced strategic partnership in February 2022.   

How to reverse Biden's damage: We must support our allies and impose consequences on our enemies in Latin America. Russia and China must understand they cannot destabilize the region and undermine our security with impunity.

• How we do this: We must support our allies in Latin America by taking their concerns seriously. Colombia and regional partners must know they have the defense and might of the United States when dealing with socialist dictators in Venezuela and Cuba. 
• We must support freedom-loving Venezuelans and Cubans suffering under real oppression. America should further sanction Cuba and Maduro’s regime. Biden hasn’t imposed a single new sanction on Venezuela since he took office.  

Further Background:   

• Venezuela is led by socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, who illegally concentrated power in 2016 after refusing to adhere to a parliamentary referendum by the duly elected lawmakers and subsequently illegally staging his reelection in 2019.
• His criminal rule has led to 1,000,000% inflation, widespread poverty, exorbitant crime, and a refugee crisis in Colombia. The United Nations has declared that Maduro has committed crimes against humanity, falsely imprisoning over 12,000 freedom loving Venezuelans, torturing dissidents (over 290 documented cases) , and greenlighting secret killings of his opponents. 
• Communist dictators have mercilessly ruled Cuba since Fidel Castro took power in 1959. 
• Castro and his minions immediately sought an alliance with the Soviet Union leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. 
• Castro’s communist military dictatorship oversaw the complete elimination of basic rights and led almost all Cuban citizens into poverty.  
• Despite zero progress in eliminating abuses against the Cuban people, President Obama normalized relations with Cuba in 2014. Before he left office, President Trump  re-declared Cuba a state-sponsor of terror and levied sanctions in support of freedom-loving Cubans.